Muhammad Ali: The Greatest Collection

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All Rise...

The Charge

I am the Greatest!

Opening Statement

I have to confess that I've become a bit cynical when it comes to boxing. Our
less-than-stellar personalities, charges of corruption, and some plain boring
fights, along with astronomical costs for watching the latest championships on
pay-per-view have kept me away from following the sport closely. But back in the
days of yore, I was quite a fan of the "Sweet Science" and even did a
little boxing myself. My last fight was not what you would call memorable; I
gave my opponent everything I had to his midsection and was convinced enough
that would hurt him that I was a tad slow in raising my guard. He got me with a
hook that started in California and hit me somewhere in Illinois, and I'm lucky
I am not still out from it. So HBO won't be making a DVD of my career. They did
make a DVD about who is arguably the greatest heavyweight champion though,
Muhammad Ali. From his early days as Cassius Clay to the end of the longtime
rivalry with Smokin' Joe Frazier, this DVD does a great job of showing his
career, including the full footage of three of his most memorable fights: the
1964 bout with Sonny Liston where Clay won his first championship, the 1974
"Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman, and the third fight with
Joe Frazier, the "Thrilla in Manila." The once despised champion and
conscientious objector became the only man to become Heavyweight Champion three
times, and has grown into one of America's most beloved people. It is only
fitting that we get a record of his career on DVD.

The Evidence

The disc begins with a one hour-long documentary called "Muhammad Ali:
Boxing's best." It takes a look throughout Ali's career through the eyes of
Jim Lampley and Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee. I found it quite informative and
entertaining. There are behind the scenes footage, pre-fight interviews, and
film clips that cover his career in detail right up to his final loss to Larry
Holmes in 1980. You also can go straight to each fight on the disc, or plop in
the bonus CD-ROM (yes CD, not DVD) into your computer for "The Ali
Influence," a feature about Ali's influence on boxing from the past to the
modern era. You get plenty of one-liners and boxing poetry from the outspoken
(to say the least) Ali.

HBO certainly picked three great fights for the DVD as well. Larger than
life boxing, intense matches all. The image quality varies from the very grainy
black and white of the 1964 Liston fight to very clear and detailed footage of
the later fights. I'm surprised how well the footage has held up. Sure there is
some color bleeding, and colors not as bright as they were back then, but it's
looks fine to me, and the few problems will not be distracting at all in the
latter two fights.

The sound is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track that is usually more than adequate,
just a bit muffled during some of the footage from years past. I wouldn't call
it bad, and certainly good enough for the material being shown.

The CD-ROM is a wealth of information, and fighter bios on the DVD round out
the extra content. No complaints here at all.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

One huge complaint about this disc; the absence of Howard Cosell. For the
best-known announcer of Ali's fights, and one of his biggest supporters over the
years, he is nowhere to be seen on this disc. I consider that a travesty.

Closing Statement

Take the chance to relive boxing history with this fine DVD from HBO. From
the great fights to the wealth of information, you can't miss if you are a fan
of the sport. Sports fans haven't had the opportunity to get much from the DVD
format yet, but this is a great beginning.

The Verdict

Muhammad Ali remains larger than life, and is a credit to us as Americans.
HBO does it right with this DVD, and I hope to see more discs like it in the
future. Case dismissed!